Balanced effort and quick start propels LSU to series win
This time it was the Tigers that got off to the quick start.
LSU pushed across three runs in the first inning and six different Tiger batters had multi-hit games in a 12-3 victory over Alabama Sunday afternoon in Tuscaloosa.
With the victory, LSU improves to 32-15 on the season and 14-10 in league play. The Crimson Tide dropped to 26-22 overall and 10-14 in SEC action.
Jordan Thompson got the Tiger offense going in the first inning with an RBI double and LSU took a 3-0 advantage two batters later after a RBI single by Drew Bianco.
Graduate senior Tyler McManus got in on the fun in the fifth inning with the first of a pair of two-run homers, combining with another RBI single by Bianco to make it 6-1 LSU. Two innings later, the Tigers added three more insurance runs via an RBI fielder’s choice by Tre’ Morgan and an opposite-field two-run homer by McManus.
Dylan Crews continued his torrid hitting, launching his third home run of the weekend in the eighth, a three-run shot to make it 12-2 Tigers.
On the weekend, Crews finished 8 for 10 with three homers and seven runs driven in.
At the plate, it was a much more balanced offensive attack Sunday afternoon for LSU as seven different batters had a hit and Crews, Thompson, Bianco, Pearson, Dugas and McManus each had multi-hit games.
While the bats were much more impressive Sunday afternoon, the Tigers struggled to get anything out of their starting pitcher. Freshman right-hander Samuel Dutton lasted only ⅔ of an inning for LSU after Blake Money failed to record an out in a loss on Saturday night.
However, once again the bullpen came to the rescue of the Tigers.
Jacob Hasty relieved Dutton in the first and threw four innings of shutout baseball, followed by Eric Reyzelman who added 2.1 innings of one-run work, followed by Riley Cooper’s one run allowed in one-plus innings of work and Devin Fontenot finished things off with a scoreless ninth.
LSU returns home to Alex Box Stadium on Tuesday to take on Southeastern Louisiana before welcoming Ole Miss to Baton Rouge for the regular season home finale beginning Friday night at 7:30.